


Lacking Humanity

by imagination_tier



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Allison is an angel, Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Eldritch abomination in a human shape, Henry is a golem, Henry will mess you up, I'm gonna cherry pick the hell out of them, Joey is a demon, Joey is dangerous, LITERALLY, Multi, Norman:, Sammy's human, Susie is a siren, Wally is a wendigo, almost casual violence, blue and orange morality, but he's got the Ink Demon in his head, consuming humans, feel free to ask what the fuck I'm doing, here there be demons, hide your legends, hide your myths, i'm still procrastinating garbage, monsters being monstrous, not your everyday urban fantasy, these people's morals are not your morals, too much worldbuilding, welcome to the show
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-03-18 13:56:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13683063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imagination_tier/pseuds/imagination_tier
Summary: Welcome boys and girls and various others, to the twisted creation I'm releasing onto this unsuspecting fandom.Or,Drabbles for the ridiculous monster au my Muse has been cooking up for a while now. Buckle up, it's gonna get weird.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gee Tier, how come your Muse let's you have three ridiculous aus?
> 
> :) You think I actually have a say in the matter?

**Look at all this perfectly fine food just wandering about, you can overpower any one of them so easily!**

Wally really wished that his spirits would just shut up about hunting down the humans he saw in his day to day life already.

**Oh hush you, can't you see you're making him uncomfortable? Leave the boy be**

_**Well aren't you the shining beacon of moral superiority. Weren't you doing the exact same thing just yesterday? Just because you're nicer about it doesn't change anything~** _

** Well excuse me for trying to not make him feel like more of a monster! **

_**He'll starve at this rate!** _

Actually, scratch that. Wally really wished his spirits would shut up in general.

The young Wendigo continued with his duty, diligently cleaning the floor of the room he was currently in. Apparently Joey had an outburst a few hours back, and while no one was hurt (thank the realms for small mercies) three and a half rooms had been completely wrecked before Henry managed to finally subdue him. Most of the debris had been cleared already but it was his job to finish the rest of the job.

_**Come on kid, you can't live off vamp candy, you need to actually eat something, anything! You have some stuff in the fridge set aside for you, just go get it**_

Wally bit even harder into his blood pop, stubbornly ignoring the stabbing pain in his gut and the trio in his head. He could do this, he could hold out another week if he needed to.

He refused to be like  _him._

Suddenly the door was slammed open, and the only siren in voice acting sauntered through. Susie Campbell was definitely a good representative of her race, from her strangely flowing reddish brown hair to the pretty seaglass colored feathers that covered the entirety of her arms and disappeared within her blouse. But as usual, the first thing his eyes were drawn to was the stark black runes tattooed onto her neck, not hidden beneath anything like he'd seen other sirens do.

"Hello Wally!" she chirped, just shy of actually singing the usual greeting. Ignoring the new stab in his gut he smiled widely at her, a mouthful of wickedly fangs that unnerved even some other monsters.

"Hi Susie, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be recording your new lines right now?" 

"I'm on break silly~. A supernaturally blessed voice doesn't mean I can just stress it willy nilly. The studio's still working to fix some things Joey wrecked, so I thought I might have my break here. Don't worry, I brought you some to!" She opened the bag and  _dammit_ , he didn't even need to see what it was to start drooling.

**Ha! Knew the seabird would come through for ya**

**Thank the fates she knows better than to listen to you**

_**Hell yeah! It's chow time brat!** _

Wally ignored the relief coming off the voices to try and back away from Susie and the disgusting   ~~absolutely tempting~~ bag, but only got backed into a corner by her.

"I don't know if you have a preference, but my mother always sends me some human from the last hunt. I think this one was in his thirty's and pretty healthy? You can tell me more after your done eating."

"I've told you before, I'm fine! I don't need your disgusting human flesh." Wally snarled at her dangerously (with his pitch black eyes and fangs, he'd make an intimidating figure to most. Not Susie though).

"Hey now, it's not my fault when idiots go into the deadzone. Besides, my mom makes the most amazing sandwiches~." She teasingly shook the bag in front of his face, but Wally only turned to face away.

Susie rolled her eyes at him, still holding out the paper bag. "Wally honey, I get that you have rightful concerns about your diet, but starving yourself will only end with a dead Wendigo. You can't change this about yourself you numbskull."

Wally stared at the bag, it really  _did_ smell good, and he'd seen Susie eating these enough to figure that her mother was an amazing cook.

But

~~~~~~He didn't want to become like that man, who hunted and murdered to satisfy his bloodlust instead of his hunger.~~

"Stop that!" Susie shrieked before stumbling to the ground when a bolt of black lightning struck her. Wally yelped and grabbed her before she could hit the floor. She moaned in pain, reaching up to slightly stroke the now glowing white runes.

"Ow, that wasn't a smart move."

"Don't do that Susie! The Eyes of the Queen always have you on their radar, they'll take your job away at the first sign of you causing trouble." Wally jumped as a sandwich was suddenly shoved into his mouth and before he knew it and could stop, he'd already devoured it and was halfway done with a second one. He ignored the way the voices sighed deeply in relief as the gnawing hunger finally subsided.

"Now was that so bad? I really wish you'd stop making it come to this."

"Why can't you just leave me to my horrible life choices?" Wally mumbled around his second sandwich.

"Because silly," Susie slowly reached out and booped his nose "it's a big sister's job to keep her little brother from being too big of a numbskull." 

"We're not even related, I haven't even met the rest of your family."

"Oh they already approve. They're expecting me to drag you to meet them, by force if necessary." She reached into the bag again and retrieved another two sandwiches, holding one out and munching on the other one already.

After some hesitation, Wally accepted the offered sandwich. Susie smiled brilliantly.

The two of them ate in comfortable silence. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sammy was five when he first heard the Ink Demon.  
> He'll be thirty five when he actually listens to him for the first time.

Sammy was helping his mother in the kitchen with the snacks when he heard him for the first time.

**You wretched fools can't keep me trapped in this hellhole forever! I _will_ find my way out of my prison, and you all will pay for this offense to me!**

He dropped the cupcake he was decorating with a startled yelp, head turning wildly as he tried to find where the voice was coming from. His mother paused in her frosting to give him a worried look.

"Sammy honey, what's wrong? Harry, get in here!"

"Who said that!? Where are you!?"

**Oh, what's this? A useless little mortal can _hear me. Of course_  this would happen to me.**

"Hey! I'm not a useless mortal you meanie!" Sammy yelled, furiously shaking his fists at nothing in particular. He froze and started to shiver badly when a deep and sinister chuckling echoed through his mind. His father came running in, still dressed in his gardening clothes. He fell to his knees in front of Sammy and tilted his son's head to face him. 

"Sammy please, what's happening? Are you hearing something." Sammy could only nod but flinched as the echoing chuckle turning into full-blown laughter. Overwhelmed, the young boy started to cry, distressed sobs wracking his slight form. 

**This may be a blessing in disguise. Be thankful little mortal, you will have the honor of becoming the prophet of the Ink Demon! Truly you've been blessed by the lowest realm.**

"Mommy, daddy," he managed to get past his hyperventilating breathing "what's going on? Get this thing out of my head! Please!" Both Sammy's parents hugged their crying son between them. The two of them gave each other a look over Sammy's head.

"Daisy, do you think?"

"It seems most likely. We should've known this would happen, _I_ should've known this would happen."

"There's no changing the past love," Harry heaved a deep sigh as he stroked Sammy's hair "I think it's time we introduce him to your parents."

. . .

For the longest time Sammy didn't have any grandparents. His daddy's parents were long dead and mommy didn't like discussing hers. Between the voice still talking in his head and his mommy declaring that they were going visit her parents there was a lot of information for the child to process.

"Why do we gotta stop so often mommy?" His mother glanced at him for a second before returning her eyes to the road.

"Do you remember that there's so much more to our world than humans?" Sammy nodded slowly, picking up speed as he remembered more of the lessons miss Chi had taught him. He knew that beyond the community he and his parents lived in there were many different creatures, monsters and spirits and fae. They've all lived together peacefully for over a really _really_ long time.

**So pathetic. When I escape, ridding the world of these disgusting treaties will be at the top of my to do list. Right underneath destroying all who share blood with the sorcerer foolish enough to seal me.**

"No you won't! Everyone's happy right now, why would you want to mess with that!?" His mommy glanced a bit longer at him, worrying her lips before answering.

"Well your grandparents live in a very special place. Even though we're family the guards need to see what we're bringing with us."

"But mommy! What if you brought presents!? They'll see them and ruin the surprise!" Daddy chuckled heartily, reaching behind him to ruffle Sammy's hair.

**You really don't have anything better to do don't you mortal.**

Sammy huffed and crossed his arms, ignoring the voice as much as possible.

"Well for your information the only present is you! Your grandma Mavis has wanted to meet you since you were born, and it looks like she's finally going to get to." 

"Wow! I'm gonna be the best present she'll ever get, you'll see!" Mommy grumbled something under her breath and daddy laughed even harder.

. . .

Mavis Lawrence was a  _very_ intimidating figure. Sure she looked a lot like her daughter, all messy blond hair and icy blue eyes, but she was tall and willowy in a way that just didn't look right for people, a too wide smirk on her painted red lips. Across the skin of her exposed arms the bold tattoos depicting an almost living forest fire danced as she spread her arms invitingly.

"Do my aging eyes deceive me? My beloved daughter has returned home with her love and child, after nearly ten years! How  _is_ Tabby doing, still giving you trouble dear?"

"Hello mother Mavis. We need your help, my son-" Daisy yelped when Mavis suddenly bapped her on the head with a bright orange fan that had appeared from nowhere.

"Tsk tsk, how rude, coming back after all these years and not even introducing the new additions to the family! You didn't even ask about your other parents, for shame!" Sammy could feel his jaw drop. No one could get away with telling his mommy she was rude. Grandma must be something else.

"Forgive me mother, this is my spouse Harry and our son Sammy. I'm sorry for my behavior, but unfortunately my son seems to have taken after me." Mavis's eyes widened before sharpening, losing the playful twinkle that shone so brightly mere seconds ago.

"What are we looking at? Demon, evil spirit, or something like Tabby? When did it make itself known?" Daisy let out a small sigh of relief. She was taking this serious.

"We're looking for something calling itself the Ink Demon, and just last morning." Mavis sucked in a sharp breath at the name and a let out a relieved breath at the time.

" _Of fucking course_ it's that horrific beast," Mavis spat out. The tattooed woman sharply pivoted on her heel and started to walk, signaling the guards on standby to get moving in a flurry of sign language. Wordlessly the small family unit followed after her as she practically stalked through the halls.

"I can only be glad you didn't allow your troubles with me and the rest of the clan to cloud your vision on this matter," Mavis finally said after a rather uncomfortable silence "while the usual brew would work well enough, most witches don't have the means to brew what he'll truly need to not lose his mind."

She suddenly stopped in front of a large door.

"The rest of your parents are in there, do go introduce your family and refamiliarize yourself with the compound. I will return in about four hours." she immediately continued walking as soon as she was finished speaking.

Daisy hugged her little family close, an old weight returning to rest on her shoulders and faint whispers she hadn't listened to in over ten years ringing softly in her ears. "Come along boys, you have four other parents to get introduced to."

. . .

 **One of these days I _will_ get you, and the street will run red with the blood of the tainted.**  

"Yeah sure, you do that." Sammy absently tapped his pencil to a tune only he could hear, eyes focused solely on the large amount of papers in front of him. Letting his homework pile up like this probably hadn't been a very good idea, but he  _really_ wanted to finish this one particular song.

Sammy stopped with his tapping when inky black veins danced just barely on the edge of his vision.

"Oh no you don't, not today you bitch." Sammy muttered, blindly grasping in his desk for the specialized pills he kept there for this occasion. As grandma Mavis had told him all those years ago, the Ink Demon was a very dangerous entity to have in your head. These strange flickers in his vision had been happening ever since he'd turned fifteen.

Thankfully, they were certain that this was the extent of his current capabilities. Sammy just had to make sure that the Ink Demon never got an opening to really do anything more.

Sammy had just swallowed the pill he'd popped in his mouth when a ridiculously loud crash came from right outside the door. Almost immediately afterwards his roommate Talia stumbled in, her the pupils thin slits that indicated that he was actually dealing with his  _other_ roommate, A Truly Unfortunate Event.

What did you do this time Unfortunate?" Sammy grumbled while picking up the scattered pills. Different from most demons, Unfortunate offered power in exchange for thrills and adventures. And Talia was nothing if not the most trouble finding student on the entire campus in decades.

He easily ignored the Ink Demon's increased agitation as he realized that Unfortunate was present. He really didn't want to think of the horrific threats he promised to enact on the young demon.

"Why must you always assume I did something?? That stings Lawrence, like a stake trough the heart." Unfortunate dramatically doubled over, clutching his borrowed chest to really emphasize the pain.

"Maybe it's because I can hear the science departments fire alarm all the way here? Which is something considering its on the other side of the damn campus."

"Wow rude," Unfortunate said, mock offended. With a burst of black smog coming out of Talia's mouth Unfortunate left his host to go sulk in the fishbowl. With a soft groan she started to go through her stretches, smiling tiredly but still wide.

"C'mon Sammy, don't be mean to Unfortunate. He just wants to play~."

"Both of you have a very different definition of  _playing_ than I do," Sammy said under his breath.

"You see, this is why people don't think you're fun. Live a little Sammy!" The vampire rolled her eyes before rummaging around in their shared fridge. She made a small confused sound before gasping loudly. Sammy immediately braced himself to get jumped on, and sure enough she launched herself at him at high speeds.

"Holy shit Sammy! Is this actually centaur blood!?!" she exclaimed, holding the bottle up to his face.

"Yeah, it's a gift for last semester. You really didn't have to put up with my music crazy, but not only did you, you even stuck around to help where you could. I honestly wouldn't have made it through those exams without your help." At the end of his little speech she was tearing up almost comically, but Talia was always one to proudly show her emotions.

"This is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me," she blubbered past the tears. "I'm gonna miss you when we graduate." 

Both of them knew the likely hood of staying in touch wasn't very high. Both her contract with Unfortunate and the fact that Talia had always wanted to travel for the rest of her unnatural life meant that they probably wouldn't see each other for years.

Sammy pulled the still crying vampire into a thight hug.

"I'm happy that you barged into my dorm and promptly declared that you weren't leaving," Sammy managed to say. Talia chuckled into his mass of hair, hugging him as tight as she could without hurting him.

"And I'm happy that I stupidly summoned a demon and decided to room up with the other person involved with demons."

*Aww, you guys are just sickening,* Unfortunate whined from his fishbowl. Wordlessly Talia raised an arm and the demon almost immediately flew to join the embrace.

 **Enjoy this while it lasts my prophet, you can't stop me forever. So laugh with the pitiful welp and it's disgusting contractor.** _**You still belong to me.** _

. . .

"So mr Lawrence, what do you think of the studio, now that you're part of the team?" Sammy was honestly stunned that he'd been. Sure, he'd answered their advertisement concerning needing a new music director, but still!

Joey Drew studios was a kinda infamous. Founded by a nearly feral demon that was the most powerful black sorcerer in history and the most advanced golem to have existed in probably centuries, the founders alone would have made heads turn. But that wasn't the last of it.

It's staff was filled with the more dangerous of creatures, ones that even in these peaceful times tended to be held at a distance by the rest of the world. It was practically unheard of for them to be seen in the average work setting, much less so many of them to be in the same one.

Sammy honestly thought that is was an unknown monster only area. And yet here he was, easily hired after showing he had the qualifications for the job.

"I'm honestly surprised they got back to me miss Campbell," Sammy said honestly.

"Oh no you don't! My name's Susie, and you're going to use it!" She said, glared playfully at him.

"Right, sorry miss-, I mean Susie." She quirked an eyebrow before smiled pleasantly at his correction.

"You learn fast, good."

The two of them passed a rather peculiar board. It was covered with pictures of the studio's workers, grouped from a green zone to a black one. Sammy had seen it during the tour but had been assured there wasn't anything really bad about it.

"It's required," Henry Ross had said when he brought it up during the interview. "There's a lot of very dangerous people working here, and in case one of them snaps we need to know the danger that they pose immediately. It's the compromise we managed to get out of The Eyes of the Queen."

Joey Drew's picture was on the edge of the black zone (immensely dangerous, do not approach) while Susie's was on the border of the green and orange (potential for harm existed, but was mostly not a problem), a simple rune on the corner indicating that she had a rune spell on her.

His picture was in the center of green zone but had a black sticker on the corner. Usually harmless, but with the potential for great destruction within him.

Mr Drew had sucked in a harsh breath when he told him  _who and what_ exactly he had in his head before he placed the sticker on.

"Come along Sammy," Susie said, voice just shy of singing the words "let's go meet the rest of the band. I just know you're going to love whiping these dorks into shape."

. . .

There was only pain and the oppressive miasma of a truly powerful demon (what had Joey done!?).

Most of the studio was quite, enough so that his footsteps echoed loudly. It was immensely unsettling.

Sammy massaged his forehead, trying to will away the stabbing feeling in his head. He honestly shouldn't even be here, but he'd grown to care for Joey over the years they've worked together and refused to leave him to his poisonous thoughts so soon after Henry had (rightly) left.

Sure Joey had made a collosal fuck up; breaking the one promise Henry had ever asked of him, but he felt sympathy for the demon. The two of them were a lot closer than their bickering relationship at work implied, both dealing with the darkest aspects that being involved with demons brought with them.

Sammy flinched when the echoing laughter of the Ink Demon increased, the volume overwhelming.

 **Didn't I promise that I would get out one day? Why with all this energy your little friend is just throwing around, I could probably materialize right next to you! Prepare yourself my prophet, your lord is coming!**  

Sammy's eyes widened as what felt like ink running down his arms and legs. The strange flickers had become pitch black veins across his vision, coiling about and corrupting the area around him. This was bad, so so bad! What was he supposed to do.

It was with a icy sensation down his back that he realized there wasn't anything he could do. He was just a  _single nonpowered human._

The last thing that Sammy Lawrence saw was an oddly familiar grin on a horrifying creature.

**"Now, who are you, and what is your purpose?"**

The Prophet moved to kneel reverently in front of his lord. This, was right, this was what he was meant to be, what he was meant to do.

"I am but your humble servant, here to serve you as you wreak havoc across this wretched realm."

The Ink Demon smiled widely. It was finally time to get on his revenge.

(Well, at least he thought he would.)

. . .

Beyond the intense grief that tormented Joey, he jerked when he noticed something _very off._

_Something very bad had dared to enter his territory._

Still lost to his instincts, he immediately slammed down a barrier around the studio, trapping anything still inside. Had he been of clear mind he probably wouldn't have done that. Probably.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why do these drabbles always get stupid long on me??  
> Writing is hard, but damn if I'm not having fun with these ridiculous things my Muse drops on my lap when not agonizing about the missing in action plot.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Most people would stay out of the way of a rampaging demon.
> 
> Never let it be said that Henry Ross ever cared for what was considered the reasonable option.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know nothing about animation, but let's just pretend I'm competent.

It was a quiet moment in Joey Drew studios, still early enough that the few of its workers already present were still in the process of waking up. Some were sluggishly starting their day, others slowly working their way through their chosen hot beverage. The few morning people were, thankfully, keeping the chipper attitude down till they weren't at risk of pissing off anyone.

This could not be said for Henry Ross, cofounder and head of animation. He'd been the first to show up as usual, cheerfully moving through the studio and waving to whoever he passed as he made his way back to his desk to get started up again.

Henry had been in the Zone for the last two hours or so, his hands smoothly gliding over the paper as he worked. Animating was hard work, especially when the studio had very high standards. He'd know, he was the person in charge of enforcing said high standards.

If he needed sleep Henry would undoubtedly have concerned many a person with his preferred workload.

While running the animation department was undoubtedly great, Henry liked the slightly monotonous work of drawing and redrawing frames most. It was almost relaxing to the golem in the ease that he could do it. He was quite talented at it and proud of that fact, and not mentioning that some believed that his runes were responsible, which never failed to make him giggle a little.

All in all, it was looking to be a very quiet day, a rarity in the craziness that was the studio.

***CRASH!!***

 Henry was only able to suppress his instincts to jump or flinch by exercising ever bit of self control he had, assisted by a mad mantra of "if you ruin these you're going to be three days behind".

"Spoke too soon," Henry muttered under his breath as he felt a truly oppressive aura start to work its way into every nook and cranny of the building. If he was capable of it he'd be sweating, and already he could hear the other workers starting to become uneasy.

While there were many dangerous individuals employed in the studio, there was only one who's outbursts saturated the studio down to the foundation it was built on. Only one who's mere presence could invoke such unease without being physically present. Only one who was undoubtedly the most dangerous entity in the entire studio by a  _wide margin._

The demon and black sorcerer that had claimed the building as his own, The Taint of Heritage.

His beloved, Joey Drew.

Henry immediately got up, already keeping his eyes and ears open to find where exactly he'd gone to. Joey could just as easily be skulking trough the vents as prowling about the hallway. He was very unpredictable in that regard, which only added to the danger he posed. Henry wasn't too concerned yet. The various devil traps scattered throughout the studio had yet to go off, so for now Joey hadn't done anything rash yet.

"Joey, come out now," he called out into the now empty hall "let's talk about this." The inactive runes under the skin oh his right hand itched as they started to slowly come to. Just in case he needed it.

A rustle sounded from above him and Henry immediately dove to get out of his spot. A second later a black blur crashed into his previous position, a terrifying sound tearing from its throat as it realized it had missed its intended target. Despite himself, Henry let out a sigh of relief. It was always a good thing when he was the target, it made things a matter of waiting.

The beast was just _barely_ recognizable as a humanoid underneath the pitch black fur and feathers that were covered in barely visible black blood, the whole mess haphazardly covering pale (human) skin.  It was immensely unsettling to look at in a way that wasn't related to its appearance and more related to the way it moved smoothly on all four, as if it was meant to do so.

Its appearance was nothing to short of horrific though. The four bony, half feathered wings now sprouting from its back easily brushed the ceiling as they spread, the painful appearance of immensely malformed paw like limbs hid how easily it moved around, and his hair had grown into a shaggy mane that just barely hid the unsettlingly large fangs and toxic green eyes that gleamed at him from between the strands of hair.

Despite himself and the situation Henry smiled at him.

"There you are silly." It froze for a split second, something that would have gone unnoticed to most. That was a good sign. Joey wasn't completely lost to his instincts yet, with some luck the only problem would be replacing whatever was already broken.

With a bone chilling shriek it pounced at Henry, swiping out viciously. The golem dodged the erratic swings easily, twisting and dancing between the attacks with the kind of efficiency that brought to mind robots and machines. Its frustration with its missed hits was easily felt, nearly warping the air around them, but with each miss it was growing more and more sloppy.

Henry waited for the demon to slip up, not willing to lose his speed and risk getting hit. It wouldn't do to have to fight with missing limbs messing up his advantage. With a hastily cut off curse he dodged a swipe that would've torn his arm clean off.

With a grunt he turned sharply, not losing momentum as he ducked underneath the confused demon's limbs. As he's hoped Joey wasn't quick enough to correct himself and kept going, crashing hard into the wall. The demon whined softly, the sound of his human voice bleeding through just a bit.

Hopefully it would stay down.

Henry crouched in front of the still disoriented demon and clamped down on its neck with his right hand, the runes glowing brightly. "Now, will you come quietly or are you going to force my hand?" he asked softly. Henry could feel it's hackles starting to rise as it moved to ready another attack.

Fun fact: in this world there exists a rune meant to bless inanimate objects and weapons (no matter the complexity, a golem is considered both of these). Though effective, it's not particularly popular as it's incapable of extending its protection to living creatures.

That was more than fine with Henry, he simply needed something that could effectively hurt the demon so it'll comply instead of try anything funny. He let a sliver of his rune's power slip through, the small trickle already starting to badly burn demonic flesh.

The demon froze under his hand, realizing in what situation it was in. Henry  _really_ didn't like having to use this rune, but when he was like this Joey needed to be knocked out hard and fast to avoid more damage.

Henry's grip loosened suddenly when his vision suddenly tilted sideways and upside down before staying there. He was confused for only a second when he glanced at his legs and cursed. He glared at the thin thornlike tail that was wrapped around one of his ankle, already started to crush it to pieces. 

With a few quick but tricky twists the golem managed to strike the demon in the face with his right hand, letting the light from glowing runes burn its target harshly. Surprised at the burn it screeched and jumped away from the golem, letting its grip loosen just enough for Henry to get out. He landed heavily on his uninjured leg, not wanting to worsen the break more by applying pressure to it. 

With a start he remembered where in the studio he was. This was risky and could get him seriously damaged, but if he managed it they'd be done with this whole awful situation quicker.

He directed the ghostly energy that flowed through his clay towards the broken joint, letting it wrap around it. He could already feel the tiredness from directing his energy like that start to set in, but Henry only steadied his stance and bolted again. He ignored the animalistic growls that came from behind him and focused solely on his destination.

_There!_

Henry pivoted sharply on his good foot and faced the rampaging demon for a split second before collapsing to the floor with a painfilled cry. His pursuer slowed down, confused. Henry kicked it up a notch, flinching visibly as he reached for his broken ankle. From underneath the overgrown hair he could see a terrifying flash of fangs. The demon slowed, it seemingly savoring the fact that its prey was finally at its mercy with no escape.

When the demon was looming over him the golem smirked and pointed down. Confused, it look down at the devil trap it had cluelessly stumbled onto. Almost immediately after it flares to life with an almost felt crack, shimmering phantom chains bursting from the edge of the pentagram and wrapping around the demon tightly. It shrieked loudly, aggressively flapping its wings as it tried to get away.

It was no use though, the chains digging deeper into its flesh the harder it tried to escape.

The hallway was filled with bright lightning as the devil trap did its job, pinning the demonic entity inside of it and starting to drain its powers. The demon trapped within tried to escape, but it was in vain.

Henry watched in slightly detached interest as Joey's demonic presence folded in on itself due to the devil trap, followed closely by the non human features retreating back into Joey's body.

He easily tuned out the horrific shrieks as they slowly gave way to a human screaming. With a final crack Joey finally collapsed to the floor, utterly spent by the forced transformation. Human red blood was starting to flow out of the wounds the retreating limbs had made as they retreated, mixing with the black blood still clinging to his skin like ink. His pants had survived this particular bout surprisingly well, but the shirt wasn't salvageable as usual. A shame really, Joey liked that shirt.

Joey gasped harshly, trying to regulate his heavy breathing and regain control of his shaking limbs.

Henry scanned the area around him and made a pleased noise when he spotted the small cabinet. As he'd hoped it was filled with blankets and spare clothes (between the ink, strange substances the workers brought in and sudden transformations, having spares around was was necessary). He grabbed a soft blanket and started to cover his shivering beloved, who peered at him from between his overgrown hair and gave him a wobbly but beautiful smile.

"Th-, thank you. D-id, did I hurt anyone?" he managed to ask despite his raw throat. 

"No, you did so good love," Henry praised, knowing that the information would keep him from aggravated his injuries. The tension in Joey's form eased a bit. "Think you can get up by yourself?" Joey carefully moved to his knees and slowly stood upright. He managed an incredibly wobbly step before shaking his head. Henry quickly grabbed him before he stumbled and fell on his face. 

"Ok then. Come on then, let's get you fixed up, I'll take care of whatever you already wrecked," the golem said. Joey's head tilted till he was looking at the ground, refusing to look Henry in the eye.

The golem frowned and let his eyes follow his beloved's gaze and saw his injured ankle, already starting to slowly mend itself. He crouched down till they were both on the ground and carefully lifted the demon's chin till they made eye contact. The golem smiled gently as he moved the hair out of his way to stroked his love's cheek.

"Hey, look at me. You did good, no one was seriously hurt, my ankle's already healing, and we can replace whatever you broke. Day's not ruined yet silly." The golem kissed Joey on his temple and then easily picked up his love bridal style, nuzzling his neck gently. Joey only laughed tiredly and returned the gesture, already starting to nod off.

The music director Sammy Lawrence poked his head out through one of the previously closed door, looking stressed and nervous. A bit of the tension disappeared as he spotted the two.

"Things holding up on your end Henry?" he asked.

"Fine Sammy. Anything I need to be aware of?"

"Just that we're going to need to replace a table." Henry let out a sigh of relief and carefully moved Joey's position till he was more comfortable in his arms.

Tell the others that the situation's been dealt with and that they can get back to work. If we're needed, we'll be in the infirmary."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In another world this kind of relationship would be all kinds of questionable. But again, these people's morals are not your morals.
> 
> In other news, hot diggity fight scenes are hard, but I'm willing to suffer for the OTP.
> 
> A question: should I tag what creatures the characters are or not?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Susie does not like this new co-worker, even more so when she's apparently here to take the role of her dreams.
> 
> Allison finally understands why her kind willingly left heaven to stand by his sinful creations instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don't know anything about how a studio is run.

Susie's routine was a fixed but flexible thing.

Arrive at the studio, usually among the early birds. Coax Wally into eating the share of breakfast she brought especially for him. Visit Henry, Joey or Sammy and get a run down of what was on the schedule today; which could vary from recording lines for a variety of characters (her favorite was definitely Alice Angel), learning any new songs, or helping around the studio if she wasn't that needed at her usual places. Have lunch, try and get Wally to eat again. Continue with her duties for the day till it's time to go home. Periodic snacking happened when she has a bit of time to kill during the day, where she would once again try and get the ridiculous Wendigo she's decided to adopt to stop starving himself to a near manic state.

Of course, being that she worked at Joey Drew studios, things could get out of hand quickly; destroying any rigidly planned schedule as easily as a mad Minotaur in a china shop. Some days certain studio members were snippy (Lacie was quite sensitive to the sway of the moon, even for a werewolf), other times someone just completely lost it, rampaging through the halls till they were finally subdued.

And other times it was just that she took to long trying to get Wally to eat something that she would be running a little late immediately after.

Today however, was going to be one of  _those days_. Those rare days were the air prickled with the tang of an  **outsider** , one that put the entirety of the studio on edge; even the fairly neutral creatures. One of those days that always,  **always** made it onto her list of worst days.

Wally was still outside, lightly trembling as he tried to process what he was sensing. Susie didn't blame, she herself didn't want to believe what she was sensing.

"Susie," he started in a small voice. "why is there an  ** _angel_** in the studio??"

. . .

The halls were filled with whispers, a paradoxical soft yet loud kind. The studio had long ago accepted that they were being closely watched, there were too many volatile and "evil" creatures in one area for it to have gone unnoticed for any amount of time.

Angels were a rare presence though. Though tempered by their current devotion to the living beings of earth, they were still the opposing force that stood across from the denizens of hell and the places they taint.

It was mostly the unnatural enforcers of The Eyes of the Queen that came to the studio, inspecting if the place was functioning to the agreed upon standards that allowed it's owners to keep it open and hire creatures, dark or otherwise.

Susie did not like what was happening. Not one bit.

The siren tugged Wally after her, keeping the younger man behind her in case something came up and she needed to attack (and give him a chance to run for it). A few feet in front of them, standing in front of the studio's main bulletin board and pinning up the latest news, was Norman. The studio's projectionist, biggest gossip and one sharing  ~~blood~~ with creatures beyond the comprehension of any creature on the planes.

"Norman, what's going on?" The vaguely human shaped blob hidden underneath the layers of clothing tilted it's head at her, the soft ambiance of his barely audible Eldritch whispers repeating every conversation happening in a few kilometers around Norman a soothing presence among the nervous and occasionally terrified energy that threatened to swallow the building.

~~"Seems like we're going to be having a new member, voice actress I believe. Joey and Henry are going to formally introduce the new lady so nobody accidentally attacks her thinking she's an intruder."~~

Susie pursed her lips in displeasure. "And is this new lady who I think it is?" Norman nodded at that.

 ~~~~~~"Absolutely. Though I haven't the slightest clue why the hell Joey's decided to hire an angel of all things. I also have no idea why this one even agreed to go anywhere near a devil's den either."~~

With that comment Norman left, there one moment and gone the next. Susie squeezed Wally's wrist, a comfortable pressure to keep him grounded.

"Come on now little bro, let's get this announcement over with so we can just ignore her for the rest of the day." The Wendigo nodded and let Susie pull him along again as they heading for one of the larger meeting rooms. Many other workers were filling the halls, the whispered conversations filling the otherwise tense silence.

The two took a seat closer to the front, Wally waving at Henry as the golem made sure that the microphone was functioning. He grinned at the younger male before going back to his inspection.

After a while the room was filled, a good chunk of the studio's members inside. Joey Drew finally showed up, a blonde woman that Susie didn't recognize following behind him. There was an energy to her, in the same way Joey had one, but in the opposite direction from the demonic presence she had long since gotten used to.

Joey quickly placed a small kiss on Henry's forehead before he took his place at the microphone, smiling widely.

"Good morning everyone, it's good to see you all this fine start of the week. Now we all know why you're here, but first I'd like to properly introduce our main topic for today." With a grand sweep of his hand, he motioned to the blond standing slightly behind him. "This is our newest member, Allison Pendle of the European garrison. As you've probably already guessed she's an angel. Anything you'd like to say before I continue miss Pendle?"

The woman's clear blue eyes roamed the room, pausing as she made eye contact with Susie before resuming.

"Just that I'm happy to be here, and that I hope we can get along," she said with a smile sweet as candy.

. . .

Susie was walking past one of the studio's rooms (Henry had asked her to deliver some papers Joey has forgotten to take with him a while back) when she heard two voices. One she recognized easily, one unfamiliar enough that it could only be one person.

"Really? I never would've guessed that!" Allison said, voice slightly muffled by the wooden walls. Sammy's chuckling filled the silence for a moment before be responded.

"Well it's true; Joey's been voicing Bendy for years now. It was kinda unplanned, the actual guy hired never showed up. And since no one else has managed to get the voice right, he eventually decided to step up and keep doing it."

Susie carefully tiptoed closer, pressing her feathered ears to the wood and straining her hearing to make out what they were saying.

"A literal demon voicing an animated one, how serendipitous that things ended up going that way."

"It really was, but it does occasionally make things difficult. Like Joey having a "fit" when we're already getting way too close for comfort to a deadline."

"I can imagine, it's amazing how devoted mister Drew is to his studio. What an admirable demon."

Sammy hummed, the sound just barely loud enough to be heard. She new that particular hum he made, he was going to bring something potentially touchy up.

"You know, you'd be a shoe in for voicing Alice Angel." And just like that, Susie's heart shattered audibly in her ears, the papers she was carrying slipping through her fingers as she slid down to her knees. She couldn't quite make out the rest of the conversation, as if she was hearing it from under water.

"Really? I barely have any experience Sammy. And don't you already have a voice actress for her? Henry told me about her when going through the tour."

"True, but you know the old saying: there's nothing wrong with replacing something good with something better. You have the literal voice of an angel Allison, and your singing is practically divine. I can talk to Joey about this."

"Sammy, no. I'm not really comfortable with this. I'll see you back at the recording booth." The door swung open and there she was, a slightly nervous look marring her otherwise perfect appearance. Susie jolted when the door smacked against the wall and immediately started to pick up the scattered files, a mantra of 'hurry up before she tries to help' blaring through her skull.

Just when Allison look down and was about to open her mouth, Susie finally picked up the last one, quickly rose to her feet and immediately walked off. She was very tempted to glare back at the angel, but instead she straightened her spine and ignored whatever question she had asked.

. . .

After that, Susie abandoned any pretense of getting along with the angel.

It didn't help that anywhere she went, the now no longer agitated studio members couldn't find anything wrong or worth complaining about.

"Oh Allison is a doll, she helped me look for my glasses."

"I completely flubbed my cue, but she actually stepped in an kept Sammy from tearing me to shreds. What a fearless lady."

"Isn't she lovely? I've heard of how pretty angels are, but good grief if she's not a pretty thing."

"Allison helped me move some instruments around, she's really strong ain't she."

"She sings so beautifully, almost a good as Susie I'd reckon."

"Bet she'll beat the harpy on her own turf soon enough."

It was everywhere she went, inescapable.  _Allison this, **Allison that. Allison Allison Allison.**_

Susie was definitely pissed off, and by God did it show; feathers constantly fluffing up as the talons on her fingers twitched as if ready to attack anything that gave her the flimsiest of excuses. Even Wally was a touch wary around the siren, eating his share of their meals with minimal complaints.

She went through the day with the aura of a violent storm wrapped tightly around her, her hair occasionally whipping in a phantom gale only she was affected by. She knew that the others where whispering about her behavior.

She did not care, not one bit.

Susie was just about _done with this good for nothing day_ _._ For the first time in a long, long while, Susie could not wait to leave the studio and go home.

"Miss Campbell! Excuse me , pardon me, miss Campbell!" The sound of someone making it through the crowd of leaving workers finally made it to her, and she stiffened as she recognized the voice calling our to her. She glanced over her shoulder to glare at the angel, who was still a bit far away. Held aloft in her hand, visible even from where Susie was, was her purse.

Susie's eyes widened as her hand patted her side. It wasn't there, she was in such a foul mood that grabbing her purse (which held her house keys, money, a notebook filled to the brim with important information and  _all of her legal paperwork_ ) had completely slipped her mind.

By the gods, it would not have been a pretty sight if she'd noticed too late. With how close to boiling over her anger was, realizing she had misplaced such am important thing would've been the straw that broke the camel's back.

"You forgot this in the break room miss Campbell, and I'm sure you wouldn't have wanted to get home and realize that you didn't have it with you." Definitely,but Susie was not about to let her know that.

Susie quickly grabbed her purse, clutching it to her stomach as she riffled through it to make sure nothing was missing. The siren let out an audible sigh of relief after her inspection, nothing was gone.

She turned her attention back to the angel that had brought it to her, and found herself at an impasse. She did not want to have anything resembling a conversation with Allison, but not thanking her for bringing her purse to her left a bad taste in her mouth.

"Thank you miss, it would've been a disaster if you didn't decide to catch up with me."

"Ah, no need to thank me miss Campbell," the angel said with a slight giggle to her tone. "I was simply being a good Samaritan."

Susie was just about ready to leave when Allison's next words stopped her.

"I know that you overhead my conversation with Sammy." Susie froze, but Allison continued on. "I swear, I'm not here to replace you. I, I just  _love singing_ , and voice acting has always been a passion I was scared to pursue." The angel was nervously twirling her golden hair between her fingers. "There's no better fit for Alice Angel than you, honestly. I may be a literal angel, but you and the character were meant to be together."

"Well then, good night miss Pendle." Susie turned on her heels and, just to be annoying, tossed her hair over her shoulder in a show of nonchalance. She definitely didn't do it to distract from the slight blush that wasn't going away no matter how hard she tried, no siree.

Today was definitely still one of her worst.

But, maybe. Not as bad as it could've been.

. . .

Allison stumbled outside, still slightly dazed and with a slightly goofy grin on her face. She had to go back inside, not having bothered with collecting her own things in her mad dash to make sure Susie's purse made it back to its owner before she was gone. It took her a bit, as she was too busy repeating the whole encounter to be bothered with hurrying up.

'Oh wow, she talked to me! Gosh she's so beautiful.' She was glowing, literally; her angelic grace seeping through her human body as she was too busy being flustered to concentrate on her usually iron clamp control.

Susie Campbell, what a beautiful name; fitting for the ethereal songbird it belonged too. 

Allison wasn't blind though, definitely overflowing with feelings of the sapphic kind but not blind. She could easily tell that Susie was not exactly happy with her presence, especially after overhearing that Sammy was hoping to see Joey about her voicing Alice Angel. Getting into Susie's good books after such a poor introduction was going to be tricky.

But Allison found herself not particularly minding. After all, she had quite a bit of time to try and earn the affection of the lovely siren. She even had the ready excuse of wanting to know more about voice acting from a professional to meet her again, one on one even.

'So these were the kind of things that made my kin decide to leave the heavens, I think I'm finally starting to get where the Old Ones were coming from,' Allison thought quietly to herself as she started to spread her wings. A pair blocking her face from view, a pair loosely curling around her legs. And as and spread the final pair, she was gone in the blink of an eye, leaving an empty lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's been a while hasn't it? Jesus Christ I have poor time management. Shout-out to Lili, who got me off my procrastinating ass.


End file.
